Inquest into toddler's death hears babysitter admitted to burying his body under a house

Updated
Wed Dec 11 18:35:44 EST 2013

Photo

Myrtleford toddler Daniel Thomas was found under a house five years after his disapperance.

Vic Police Media: AAP Image

An inquest into the death of Myrtleford toddler, Daniel Thomas, has heard that in the years following his disappearance, his babysitter admitted burying his body.

Two-year-old Daniel Thomas was in the care of his babysitter, Mandy Martyn, when he was reported missing in October 2003.

His remains were found five years later under a house previously rented by his mother.

In conversations secretly recorded by police following the discovery, Ms Martyn separately told her drug counsellor and carer that she had buried the toddler's body under the house.

But she said she was not the last one to see the young boy alive and denied killing him.

In an interview with police recorded four months after her son's disappearance, Donna Thomas admitted to helping Ms Martyn gag and tie up the toddler as a form of discipline, which she described as torture.

Ms Thomas said she was acting on Ms Martyn's instructions and was too scared to disobey her.

She admitted to saying she had felt like throwing her son into a wall or through a window but that she had never acted on it.

Ms Thomas maintains Ms Martyn killed the toddler.

In separate evidence, police told the court the dog squad had failed to search under the house where the boy's remains were found.